


Dark Shadows

by still_lycoris



Category: Blake's 7, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Angst, Between Episodes, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-01-05
Packaged: 2018-01-07 17:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1122659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turlough wanders around <i>The Liberator</i>. Avon isn't pleased.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dark Shadows

Turlough wasn’t sure about this spaceship at all.

Well. He had nothing against the actual spaceship. He would have liked it personally. It was clearly fast, more technologically advanced than Mawdryn’s spaceship had been. If he owned it, he could get anywhere. He could get home.

But there was already a crew and they were clearly not going to give up their ship – the Liberator – without a fight. And Turlough wasn’t ready for a fight, not with six people. Especially as the Doctor and Tegan clearly wouldn’t help.

He’d tried asking the Black Guardian. But the Black Guardian wasn’t saying anything. He’d made his instructions quite clear. 

Turlough’s stomach curled.

The Liberator was a good distraction from his fear. It was far, far into the future, so far that the Doctor was muttering things about distortion and unfortunate affects. It sounded like Earth had got itself into a mess, which made Turlough smirk a bit. Stupid planet, he wasn’t surprised they’d managed to get themselves into some sort of dictatorship. Tegan was upset about it, but she was upset about everything, especially these days. She missed Nyssa. She kept muttering about how Nyssa would have loved this ship. Which she probably would have. She had shown signs of appreciation for things that Tegan never could. She would have understood this beautiful place.

Turlough couldn’t resist exploring, peering at the different bits and pieces. The teleport system was amazing and he wished he could have a proper time with it. There was no chance of that though. The crew of the Liberator would probably view that as suspicious and the Doctor certainly might. He would have to keep pretending ignorance and ignore the things he wanted.

He was peering into the room which contained some of the computer banks when a hand fell on his shoulder. Turlough twisted around immediately and found himself staring into cold, dark eyes.

“Something interests you?”

The man spoke very mildly but Turlough knew he was looking at a potentially dangerous enemy. He slipped immediately into his most submissive mode, lowering his eyes.

“I’m terribly sorry. This is all so new to me … I was just curious. Didn’t mean to intrude anywhere private.”

The man smiled a not-very-friendly smile.

“And yet here you are.”

Turlough felt a sense of menace as though it were palpable. He wondered if the crew knew what they had on board. Perhaps they didn’t care. They were warriors here.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “Would you like me to go back to the flight deck?”

“Perhaps that would be best,” the man said smoothly, leaning over Turlough to close the door. Turlough let himself look intimidated and shrank down. The man’s lip quirked slightly.

“You don’t have to pretend with me,” he said. “I’ve seen people like you before. You’re not what you seem.”

Turlough shrugged, deciding not to confirm or deny anything. 

“What are you doing with those two?” the man asked, sounding genuinely curious. “You clearly don’t fit in.”

Turlough let his lip twist a little. No, he didn’t. Tegan was just an earth person, loud and bossy and annoying and the Doctor …

Turlough was far too horrible to be with the Doctor.

“He picked me up,” he said, keeping his voice light. “He just … he’s kind like that. I wanted to see the universe.”

The man raised his eyebrow, just slightly. He clearly didn’t believe anything that Turlough said. Which was fine, as Turlough as lying a lot and anyway, he didn’t think this man could convince the Doctor of anything. The Doctor wanted to believe the best of people …

That stab again. Guilt. Shame. The reverberating thought: _the Doctor is a good person, the Doctor is a good person_. And the other one, not his own voice; _You **will** destroy the Doctor, you **will** destroy the Doctor!_

He shuddered and the strange man steadied him, his eyes narrowing a little. Turlough looked at him, at those emotionless eyes and suddenly wondered if this man could understand.

“If you were told to kill somebody, could you do it?”

A slight lift of an eyebrow, that was the only reaction. A tilt to the head. Turlough stared at him, wondering if he’d made a mistake.

“Well now,” the man said. “That’s an interesting question. I suppose it would depend on who was doing the telling and why they wanted me to commit murder.”

Turlough shook his head. He couldn’t answer that. The Black Guardian wouldn’t want his name mentioned, he could _feel_ that, the dark presence hovering around him, trapping his tongue, reminding him of the results of failure. The man’s eyes narrowed. Did he sense the power? Did he understand it? Turlough sometimes wondered … but he didn’t dare ask.

“If I _had_ to commit murder, I would,” the man said. “Without hesitation. Not everybody is so practically minded.”

He turned and walked down the corridor, clearly expecting Turlough to follow and clearly feeling the conversation was at an end. Which Turlough supposed it was. He followed the man back to the flight deck and discovered he had been talking to Avon – although it didn’t mean much to him. One of the women had given Tegan a new dress which she was excited about and the Doctor had apparently been giving advice about all sorts of little things and some small box was flashing and murmuring happily to itself because it had apparently been communicating with the TARDIS and learned all sorts of fascinating things. Everybody seemed very happy.

Turlough stood quietly at the side. He was aware that Avon looked at him from time to time, his eyes hooded. Turlough wondered what he was thinking. He had been stupid to give anything away.

But Avon showed no signs of wanting to talk to the Doctor. He stayed silent for the most part, looking as though this impromptu little party was in the way of his life and he wished they would go away. He only spoke to Turlough again when the Doctor announced that they ought to go and everyone was saying goodbye. He put his hand on Turlough’s shoulder and gripped, quite gently but with iron in his fingers.

“You can’t do it. Find another way.”

And the Black Guardian stirred and laughed and Turlough saw Avon’s eyes widen and knew that the man could hear it too.

“What do you know?” the dark voice murmured, a whisper for them alone. “You’re one of mine, Kerr Avon. You’ll see. I have _plans_ for you!”

Avon yanked away as though Turlough’s shoulder burned him, his eyes wide. Turlough darted into the TARDIS before anybody could say anything else. The Black Guardian was still laughing.

_I have to do it. I have to do it. I can’t get away, I have to!_

“Turlough?” The Doctor’s voice was kind. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he lied.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 2013 livejournal 12dayschristmas challenge.


End file.
